


Ekphrasis

by Radiolaria



Category: Leverage
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drawing, Embedded Images, F/M, Fluff, Not Beta Read, Partial Nudity, much fluff basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 02:12:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2905442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radiolaria/pseuds/Radiolaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nate is in the mood for romance. Sophie for triumph.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ekphrasis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heavenisalibrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenisalibrary/gifts), [hihoplastic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hihoplastic/gifts).



> The doodle came first, the snapshot followed.  
> I blame [heavenisalibrary](http://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenisalibrary/pseuds/heavenisalibrary) and [hihoplastic](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hihoplastic/pseuds/hihoplastic); when I discovered Leverage, I was mainly flailing about the team and containing my flailing for Nate and Sophie. They encouraged a reversal of the tendency.

 

“You are beyond salvation”, he whispered against her back, one hand tracing lazy patterns on her skin.

“Because I know just _exactly_ how to enjoy a unique piece of art?”

She huffed and went on ignoring his ministrations. This was Sophie Devereaux’s latest triumph and a love-warmed Nathan Ford would not detract her from parading. The blue diamond was taking up exactly the right space in her palm and was catching precisely the right light beam. Voracious in attention. She would keep it for a while before selling it for sure. Maybe show it to Parker, but part of her was fearing the blonde’s inevitable snark about it not being The Millenium Star.

Such beauty is meant to be shown. Not kept caged for the sole bored enjoyment of a private owner.

Nate’s other hand was tinkling with her hair, exposing her neck to scatter light kisses there. She rolled her eyes and took the diamond between her fingers, holding it for him.  

 “The Heart of Eternity, stripped of its settings and siblings. 27.64 carats, found in the 1990s in South Africa at the Premier Mine, owned by the Steinmetz group. They gave it its romantic shape and equally romantic name, before selling it to DeBeers. In a truly memorable move, the DeBeers group displayed it for the very first time, in celebration of the new millennium, together with The Millenium Star and other diamonds at London’s Millenium Dome…”

She took measure of the silence and stillness breathing against her back and, satisfied, carried on her story.  

“Imagine the commotion. And at the heart, this diamond, young but cut in a stone so old it could have slumbered for centuries still, wrapped in Earth’s crust and intact, blank of rewrites and cuts. How heart-breaking. Such stones are meant to be shaped and named. 54 facets and a blue vivid like-“

And Nate was still and silent, and quite obviously not listening. His touch on her skin had gone from heavy to suspended. Held in contact. Focused. But still.

She sighed and directed the diamond light right at his face. He retreated in her hair.

“You’re not paying attention to a word I’m saying.”

“No, I’m not,” he muffled.

“You could have faked interest at least.” She let the diamond drop into her palm and secured it in her fist. She didn’t move. Her eyes wandered to the typical wooden framework of the cabin, now bare without the stunning blue reflections. “What’s on your mind?”

“Words. Lots of words.”

“Not mine obviously. Tell me.”

She could feel the mattress caveating a little a second before his body broke the contact and he was up before she could turn to him.

“Hmm.  I said 'a lot of words'”, he answered springing half naked to the chair, where his trousers were hanging. His voice sounded rough, caught halfway out of a thought. “It would take too much time.”

She frowned and he picked a pair of socks from the night table.

“Now, you’re being cryptic.”

He made up an exasperated face for her and grabbed his shirt from another chair. Sophie decided she was not convinced in the least and that he wasn’t getting away that easily.

“Get dressed”, he chirped, looking around for an absent piece of clothing. “I wanted to have a bite before this stroll in the snow I extorted from you.”

Sophie stiffened on the bed, shifting entirely her attention from the feeling of the diamond in her hand to Nate Ford caught in the very act of fleeing her.

His ears were pink, the only part of him visible while he was slipping, clumsily, into his trousers.

Fine.

“Nate, tell me. Because I’m going to keep asking, or reading.”

He straightened back and stared, the socks stuffed in his unbuttoned trousers pocket, the shirt flung over his neck. He looked about to confess and in _dire_ need of an undershirt.

Which Sophie knew was exactly the look he wanted to register.

Without a foretelling sign, he stepped forward and leaned in to deposit a kiss on her shoulder.

“One word”, he breathed out. “Ekphrasis.”

And with a smug grin, he bowed and turned on his heels.

She remained cross-legged and tangled on the bed, aghast, while he was leaping to the stairs, one arm in his shirt.

“But I thought you weren’t interested in the Heart of Eternity! What exactly did you…”


End file.
